The Future of Urban America in the Global Economy

Abstract

America's metropolitan regions are the engines of our national economy. Today, eight out often Americans live in one of 330 metropolitan areas, and more than half live in the 39 metropolitan areas with populations of one million or more.¹ Urban economies account for 83 percent of national income and virtually all employment in the advanced technical and service sectors of the future. Cities are the great democratizers of American society, where people of different cultures and languages meet, mix, and work together. They provide opportunities for young people entering the labor market and the larger society for the first time, for immigrants from other countries, and for people moving from one part of the country to another. And America's great cities harbor and nurture this nation's innovative genius. Science and technology, art and fashion, entertainment, banking and finance, research and higher education—these activities all flourish in the creative and intellectual ferment that characterizes metropolitan centers.